Submitted by UAR-mwfree on Aug 16
B. B. King photo

 

Live in Cook County Jail album cover

 

B. B. King – Live in Cook County Jail (1971):  B. B. King is universally acclaimed as the “King of the Blues”, and not just because of his surname.  No other bluesman has been as popular or as enduring or as well known over the years as B. B. King, and he is one of the few blues artists who transcended that mostly marginalized category.  B. B. King has a genuine hit song to his credit, almost unheard of among blues musicians.  “The Thrill is Gone” was released in late 1969 and reached #3 in the Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles chart and #15 in the Billboard Hot 100.  In its 2015 edition, the list of “100 Greatest Guitarists” by Rolling Stone magazine shows B. B. King at #6.  King’s earliest recordings date from the late 1940’s, with many being overseen by a young record producer in Memphis named Sam Phillips.  A few years later, Sam Phillips would take a giant step toward the establishment of rock and roll when he founded Sun Records in February 1952 and brought to the world songs by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Howlin’ Wolf, and many others.  Live in Cook County Jail is one of B. B. King’s finest concert albums.  The original packaging had a thin denim layer over the album cover.  Most of B. B. King’s familiar songs can be found here, such as “Everyday I Have the Blues”, “How Blue Can You Get?”, “Sweet Sixteen”, “3 O’Clock Blues”, and “Darlin’ You Know I Love You”, with the rendition of “The Thrill is Gone” being especially stellar.